Devils Lake HARDWATER 101 Part 1

Devil’s Lake HARDWATER 101 Part 1:

Devil’s Lake Ice Fishing trends:

There are so many opportunities on Devil’s Lake for the Hard Water Fishermen that even for those of us who live here, it is hard to get it all in over the course of the Hard Water season. They range from shallow water Walleye and Pike action in the Early Ice months of November and December to the deep Jumbo Perch Mega School chase in the deep freeze of Late January and Early February.

From the sunken tree exploring for roving Super Mega Jumbo Yellow Perch in January to the Crappiepalooza late ice bite of Mid to Late March.

The Big Devil has a little bit of everything for the avid and not so avid ice fisherman. The novice can come out and set up tip ups and bobbers and catch a lot of fish on any old hump while the Ice Addict can attack the many bays and basins with veracity and hole drilling spunk to find those massive Perch schools.

This Hardwater 101 should help both ranges of people. I will explain how you can attack the ice and give examples of how WE attack the ice and how our philosophy and approach changes over the course of the Ice Fishing season.

Before I do that, you will need an explanation of what makes Devils Lake such a World Class Ice Fishery. Similar to my Report #14 explanation of Devils Lake, we will discuss fish behavior on Devils Lake in the Hard Water months.

We will discuss seasonal habitats, lure presentation, bait presentation, ice fishing philosophy, best fishing times, and tactics that are appropriate for each Hardwater sub-season on the Big Devil

Oh, Those Wonderful Trees!!

I will start out by telling you that the catastrophic flooding of Devils Lake in the 90’s and then again in the 00’s created a vast environment of underwater jungles of trees. The entire shoreline of Devils Lake was pretty wooded, and these trees were swallowed up. Over time, most have succumbed to rotting and ice movement. They are still there, just laying, submerged on the bottom. There are vast areas of prime habitat for freshwater shrimp and in kind, Walleyes, Perch, Pike, and White Bass.

This flooded timber holds fish ALL year. Some of these fish never leave this Piscistic Paradise. They have all that they need, a constant smorgasbord and abundant cover. This means you can fish the timber year round and catch fish. They may not be all the right fish that you are looking for, but by drilling in the flooded timber, you will mark and catch fish.

This is what flooded timber looks like on my current GPS unit. That’s what we call a fishy hump!

My biggest issue with fishing flooded timber in the Hard water season is the numerous pike that roam these areas. We have been on some pretty epic perch bites in the timber only to have a roaming school of pike not only scatter the school but also make a pretty good mess of set lines and slip bobbers. Don’t get me wrong, catching pike through the ice can be exhilarating, but when not the target species and hooked onto light perch tackle, they can become quite costly.

Flooded timber also can throw a wrench into our hole set system as often times our holes are right on top of unfishable areas because of too many snags. We do have many predetermined openings in some pre-selected areas that we go back to year after year. A number of these are included in our MYDLNDWaypoints Early Ice Bundles 1 and 2. I highly suggest you try them out.

We Want to Know What You Think

Some burning questions for our readers as we get geared up, I need some feedback as we are preparing:

Which flasher do you use? Vexilar or Marcum, and Why?

Which Auger is your favorite? Strike master? Jiffy? Eskimo?

GPS Preference? Lowrance? Humminbird? Garmin?

Give us your opinion in our comments section, we are always open to fellow Ice Fishermen’s opinions and expertise. We will be giving our opinion in Parts 3 and 4.

Next: Part 2: Contour Lines and Hole Sets